1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an electronic apparatus having an operation member that can be moved relative to an apparatus body.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, some imaging apparatuses such as a digital still camera and a video camera are endowed with an optical zoom function by which a part of the lenses of a photographic optical system are moved along the optical axis to effect variation of magnification, or an electronic zoom function by which an image signal from an image sensor is electronically controlled to effect an enlarged display of an image plane. Further, some of such imaging apparatuses allow use of the optical zoom function or the electronic zoom function during the recording of a moving image.
In some of such imaging apparatuses, when using the optical and electronic zoom functions, the optical and electronic zoom operations are performed by rotating a zoom lever that is movable, for example, rotatable, relative to the apparatus body. As compared with the construction in which different buttons are operated respectively when the zoom ratio is changed to the wide-angle side and when it is changed to the telephoto side, the construction in which the zoom operation is conducted by rotating the zoom lever easily allows a zoom operation even while checking the object through an image display unit or the like, so that this construction is widely in use.
In connection with a zoom operation device in which a zoom operation is conducted by rotating such a zoom lever, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 10-339838, for example, discusses a zoom operation device in which a spring member for restoring the zoom lever to a neutral position within a range allowing a rotational operation and the zoom lever are integrated with each other.
However, in the zoom operation device discussed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 10-339838, when the zoom lever is rotated toward the wide-angle side or toward the telephoto side, the side surface of a slit provided in the zoom lever contacts a regulation pin configured to regulate the rotation range of the zoom lever, thereby generating a contact noise. Further, when the operation on the zoom lever is stopped with the zoom lever rotated, a pin for retaining the zoom lever at the neutral position and the spring member collide with each other when restoring the zoom lever to the neutral position, resulting in generation of a collision noise. In this way, in the zoom operation device discussed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 10-339838, when the zoom lever is operated, there are generated a plurality of noises due to different reasons through an operation on the zoom lever, so that when the zoom lever is operated during the recording of a moving image, an unintended sound is allowed to be recorded. Such a problem is involved not only in the case of a zoom lever but also in the case, for example, of a slide lever linearly movable from an initial position with respect to the apparatus body.